Improving Your Grasp On Technology

Posted on: 8 February 2017

If YouTube is any example, anyone and everyone is making videos of everything and sharing it all with the world. However, there are also online streaming video superstars, those that have garnered several thousands of fans. If this is your secret ambition, you will need a lot of equipment to get started. The following items are absolute necessities in your endeavors toward becoming a streaming video superstar.

Microphone

Amateurs use the microphone in their phones and the ones built into their laptops. Nope, that is not what you need. It simply will not do. You need an actual microphone, preferably on a hands-free tripod, that plugs into your computer to deliver clear and perfect sound. You will need your hands free for other equipment and/or to demonstrate what you want to show everyone.

Headphones

Hey, Mr. DJ, can you put your headphones on? The headphones help you tune out background noise while filtering and sorting the sounds you want viewers to hear on-screen. Noise-cancelling headphones are the prime choice of the streaming video superstars, but if you cannot afford those just yet, a good set of aviator-style headphones that connect to the audio jack in your computer are enough.

Digital Computer Camera

The built-in camera on your laptop or computer monitor is the bare minimum you will need. There are higher-end clip-on digital computer cameras for streaming video that you can buy, so work toward that. If you can already fit one of these in your budget, that is great because your video quality will be so much better than something shot with a phone or with your built-in computer camera. Be sure to get one that you can easily pivot around and aim at whatever it is you want to record and stream.

Live Feed Software

Live feed software are programs that help you set up your video feed, sound, lighting and get your viewer screens in place. The best video streamers always have picture-in-picture live feeds going. The smaller picture box is trained on the streamer, while the larger picture box is trained on what the streamer wants viewers to be watching. Special software, especially the kind that accompanies an online HD video recorder, can help you accomplish this.

An Online HD DVR

If you want to save everything you stream live, and then allow fans to view it again, you need an online HD DVR, otherwise known as a digital video recorder. This may be sold in the form of software that utilizes your computer's recording abilities, or you may have to buy an HD DVR that can save your videos online and on the DVR itself. The latter does have the plus of retaining copies in the event that your computer crashes and you lose all of your recordings, but the software does things the physical DVR cannot.